Star-Spangled Sailabration Kicks Off As Ships From All Over The World Come To Baltimore Harbor

BALTIMORE (WJZ)– We honor the bicentennial of the War of 1812 and the penning of the Star-Spangled Banner which happened off the waters at Fort McHenry.

There are sailors in uniform from all over the world and visitors from all over the nation as Baltimore is at the center of the nation marking its bicentennial.

There are celebrations in other parts of the country but Baltimore is the centerpiece because of our connection with Fort McHenry and the Star-Spangled Banner.

Jessica Kartalija reports 40 captains from 40 different nations were honored on Thursday in a nautical ceremony.

Since Thursday morning, the Blue Angels have been practicing, and ships have been coming into the harbor. Everywhere you look there are sights and sounds to take in, and it all started early Thursday morning with a lot of pomp in a special Sailabration opening ceremony.

An international spotlight is on Baltimore’s Inner Harbor as the Sailabration officially gets underway. It started with a ceremony with Maryland’s top brass.

Jessica Kartalija joined the Eyewitness News team during the summer of 2006. She is a general assignment reporter, and anchors the 5 p.m. newscast daily with Mary Bubala and noon newscast with Linh Bui.
She came to Baltimore from the southwest,...